Thankful Thursday ~ The Positivity Ripple Effect

At school, I teach kids social skills and life skills. I use a book called The Virtues Project: Educator's Guide to teach kids a different virtue word each week. Today, for Thankful Thursday, I decided to take a look at what my book says for the virtue of Thankfulness. Here is an excerpt:

"Thankfulness is being grateful for what you have. It is an attitude of gratitude for learning, loving, and being. It is appreciating the little things which happen around you and within you every day. It is having a sense of wonder about the beauty of this world. It is being aware of the gifts in your life. 

Thankfulness brings content ment. It helps you find the good things in whatever happens. ... With thankfulness, we keep a positive outlook.

Focus on the good things about your life and count your blessings often. Even when things go wrong, you can be thankful if you find the lessons to be learned. Let others give to you. Expect the best in every situation." 

Are there any lines in there that spoke to you specifically, or made you think about being thankful in a different way?

This is the bulletin board of sorts I made for our virtues in my classroom at the Elementary.
Can you find Thankfulness? 

I also liked this quote that was in my book, by someone named Peggy Jenkins: "The more we give, the more will come to us." I don't know who Peggy Jenkins is (and google didn't turn anything up eather) but I think we have all heard quotes like that one. The more we give, the more we receive. I think this is absolutely true. Since I've been trying to focus in 2015 on thankfulness and gratitude, I myself have been feeling like a happier, more content version of myself. Focusing on the positive is something I continually need to work on, but I think I am seeing the rewards in myself.

This week, I had the great honor of one of my recent Thankful Thursday posts being referenced in another friend's blog. Jane's blog is called The Home Place and is really great. I definitely recommend giving it a look! Jane works as a county extension agent in a nearby county in Montana, but grew up near here. In fact, she had actually babysat my husband and his sister when they were kids! She has been following my blog for some time and found that my post about showing gratitude for family members and on the farm fit in well with an upcoming extension activity she was promoting. You can check out her post here: http://31homeplace.blogspot.com/2015/02/transferring-your-farm-or-ranch-to-next.html. I think it's great that my post fit in with hers and hopefully the message of positivity, gratitude, and thankfulness will continue to spread!

How are you spreading positivity this week?